Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O. X X I S E P T E M B E R 7 , 2 0 2 0 6 COVID-19 testing capacity grows e Maine Department of Health and Human Services and Westbrook-based IDEXX Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: IDXX) have launched a mobile lab for handling COVID-19 tests, and said it will quadruple the state's capacity for detecting the deadly disease. e new mobile facility, now parked outside the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Augusta, will increase the state's test throughput from 6,000 per week to more than 25,000, according to a news release. e mobile site, which serves as an extension of the state's Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory, recently began accepting specimens and reporting out results. e mobile lab is supported by federal funds, and through the partnership formed in May by the state and IDEXX. e com- pany, whose core business provides medi- cal diagnostics for animal health, pivoted in April to produce a human COVID-19 test through a subsidiary in Georgia. Now IDEXX is contributing tests, sup- plies and lab personnel for the state. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E The U.S. Department of Education's Stu- dent Support Services Program awarded $5.1 million to 13 Maine colleges and universities to support federal TRIO programs, which provide assistance to low-income and first-generation college students. Recipients were University of Maine at Orono, $668,084; Central Maine Community College, $596,999; UMaine Augusta, $544,741; Southern Maine Community College, $523,776; UMaine at Presque Isle, $358,735; UMaine Fort Kent, $343,051; Kennebec Valley Community College, $338,972; UMaine Farmington, $338,971; Eastern Maine Community College, $261,888; Northern Maine Community College, $294,722; Washington County Com- munity College, $291,262; University of Southern Maine, $261,888; and Thomas College, $259,491. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a total of $1 million to four entities in Maine to help keep the state pipeline system safe. The funding, which was awarded through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Adminis- tration, was distributed as follows: the National Partnership for Environmental Technology received $458,983 and the Maine Emergency Management Agency received $195,018 through the Hazardous Materials Instructor Training Grants program; the state of Maine received $346,005 through the Pipeline Safety State Base program; and the Maine Public Utilities Com- mission received $46,738 through the One Call Grant program to help fund the Damage Prevention law. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will invest $1 million in existing general funds to increase preventive health care for children enrolled in MaineCare through temporary incentive payments for health providers that offer well child visits, vaccinations and dental care dur- ing the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with federal matching payments, Maine will increase support for children's health by an estimated $3.6 million this fall. Gov. Janet Mills announced that her administration will provide $25 million in federal CARES Act Coronavirus Re- lief Funds to support Maine schools in developing and offering day program- ming for students to supplement in- person instruction. The Environmental Protection Agency awarded a total of $11.6 million in funding to three Maine organizations to support cleaner air, safer drinking water and the redevelopment of haz- ardous waste sites. The Maine DHHS for Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program received $11 mil- lion; Maine DECD for State of Maine Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Pro- gram, $375,000; and Aroostook Band of Micmacs, $164,148. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that Atlantic Corp. in Waterville received $106,000 and Northern Spent Grains in Yarmouth received $100,000 to advance food sci- ence and nutrition through early stage research and development projects. The funding was awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture Small Business Innovation Research Program. Former port director gets Connecticut port post John Henshaw, who served as executive director of the Maine Port B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state S T A T E W I D E S O U T H E R N Somali farmers look to crowdfunding to buy acreage for expansion B y W i l l i a m H a l l W a l e s — After completing a $367,000 crowdfunding campaign that included over 1,500 donors, a Lewiston-based group of New Mainers plans to purchase a 104-acre farm in this nearby Androscoggin County town. The Somali Bantu Community Asso- ciation will lease the organic farm, which an affiliated nonprofit trust, the Little Jubba Central Maine Agrarian Commons, plans to purchase by the end of Septem- ber, the groups said online. The deal will expand the SBCA's Liberation Farms community farming business, providing more land for mem- bers to sustainably produce vegetables and flint corn to support themselves and to sell within the Lewiston-Auburn area. The asking price for the farm is $430,000, according to the association, and includes a house and barns. Other details were not immediately available. The association, founded in 2005, provides advocacy and transitional ser- vices for Bantu refugees from Somalia, a minority group with about 3,000 members in the area. Among the donations to the campaign, two-thirds were from individual Mainers, who together provided 38% of the funds, according to the SBCA. Also contribut- ing money or other resources were over 70 agriculture-related business partner- ships, including the Maine Farmland Trust, Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association and Slow Money Maine. The campaign launched two months ago with initial hope of reaching its fundraising goal by Dec. 1. The association's director, Muhdin Libah, said in a statement, "Home in our community means a place that is safe and secure, where we can farm freely and where we can exercise our cultural traditions. Getting this property will check all the boxes and for the first time we have a place we call home." P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y S O M A L I B A N T U C O M M U N I T Y A S S O C I AT I O N Getting this property will check all the boxes and for the first time we have a place we call home. — Muhdin Libah Somali Bantu Community Association B R I E F The Somali Bantu Community Associa- tion and an affiliated nonprofit trust raised $367,000 toward the purchase price of a 104-acre farm in Androscoggin County.

• Cover